Selling stock photos: five popular themes

If you can take a good photo, you can be up and selling by next week. That’s one of the best things about selling stock photos. There’s no interview, no meeting with clients, no negotiating prices. And no experience necessary. But you’ll get a faster start — and sell more overall — if you can identify the photos in your collection that buyers want. To give you an idea where to start, I asked Breakfast Stock Club Premium members to send me some of their best-selling photos that they’ve taken for our monthly Breakfast Stock Club Premium Challenge. Here are some examples of Premium Members’ photos that are selling as stock, and some stock-worthy themes you can look for in your own photos: 1. Holiday Christmas and the surrounding winter holidays are the biggest time of year in the stock photo world. And it’s good to upload seasonal photos a few months ahead… so you could even set up a Christmas-themed shoot in your living room this week. It’s almost guaranteed to sell. Deborah Kolb took this simple Christmas-themed photo for the “Season’s Greetings” Challenge, and it’s now selling in her stock agencies. 2. Weather & Seasonal Seasonal topics in general do well for stock. Believe it or not, rainy days are great for stock photos. This is another shot by Deborah Kolb, taken for the “Rainy Day” Challenge, that’s selling in her agencies. 3. Flowers & Plants “Flower” is the number one most searched-for term on stock sites. Buyers want clean, beautiful, knock-out photos of flowers. Joy Ciaccio took this shot for the “Everything is Coming Up Roses” Challenge, and it’s now selling in her agencies. 4. Arts & Crafts Arts, crafts, and anything “DIY” is big these days. Buyers are eating this stuff up. The above photo is one that Breakfast Stock Club Premium Member Neniya Lanti took for the “Get Crafty” Challenge, that’s now selling in her agencies. Buff Henry took this shot for the same Challenge — a slightly different take on the “Get Crafty” theme that’s also now selling in her agencies. 5. Real People Stock photo agencies need photos of real people having real emotions. They’re tired of models in fake situations. Breakfast Stock Club Premium member Maggie Martin took this photo for the “New Year, New You” Challenge, and it’s now selling in her agencies. Sometimes a successful stock photo is right in front of you. You just have to know where to look… and start snapping. Share on Facebook

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel. Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]